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Joyce Ulysses

Once the reader is able to plumb the depths and complexities of James Joyce’s Ulysses, the rewards for that achievement are worth the mining. There are so many aspects of the complex, detailed and chock-full-of-allusions text deserving admiration, few writers appreciating its greatness would fail to argue against its reputation as being the greatest English novel of the 20th century.

The story on a broad level mirrors the journey of Odysseus, Ulysses being the Latin or Roman name for the Greek Odysseus. In Homer’s epic, and Ulysses is detached and impersonal epic, Odysseus is separated from his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. During his odyssey Odysseus discovers the truth about himself and man’s relationship with the gods. In Ulysses, Bloom is Odysseus, Stephen is Telemachus, and Molly is Penelope. Stephen is exiled because of his rejection of his mother. Bloom is exiled because he is Jewish. I like the fact that in Ulysses Bloom and Stephen, unlike Odysseus, never come to understand their loneliness and frustration. I also like how they each pursue a different course of trying to find themselves and integrate with the community. Stephen is an extension of the young artist portrayed in A Portrait of the Young Artist. He is artistic and uncompromising, seeking spiritual and emotional values. Bloom searches for brotherhood by social, political and ethical means. Yet, each remains limited in potentiality because of his environment, one that has rejected them equally. However, the novel is life affirming. Molly is the only source of redemption in the novel, and her character represents the regenerative power of the feminine. She affirms the significance of life and love. Molly is presented as nature, as the reaffirmation of the eternal nature of life. Joyce’s appreciativeness of her in all her “plumpness” demonstrates not only the joy of vocabulary to be found in Joyce, but it also symbolizes Molly’s ea...

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Joyce Ulysses. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:34, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1685785.html